Tuesday, July 7, 2026

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Commentary

COMMENTARY

Kalamazoo schools serve as prime example for others to follow

I'm from Kalamazoo — the land where the Broncos rule and Tim Hortons simply doesn't exist. It also is the home of The Kalamazoo Promise that leaves a small dent in improving the state's education system. The Kalamazoo Promise is a revolutionary idea that lifts children from the Kalamazoo Public Schools and gives free college tuition to the students in the notoriously bad school district. Money is not just thrown into the hands of a few overachievers or a lucky group of students.

COMMENTARY

Policy will not make residence halls safer

I would like to thank the university for their new policy regarding overnight guests. Not only does it sound like a delightful hassle for students to surrender their ID and retrieve it the next morning, but it is an unfair and meaningless policy. For no logical reason, the university assumes all students will be tempted to "behave inappropriately" unless they surrender their IDs to the night receptionist.

COMMENTARY

Policy bad idea when considering reality

As a night receptionist in Case and Wonders halls, I was outraged to read about a major policy change on the front page of The State News, "Dorms to require guests to leave IDs" (SN 3/16). This is not a good idea, for the following reasons: • It will cost significantly more money for the university to staff enough people to deal with the extra work this will cause. • Guests are going to be unwilling to leave their IDs with night receptionists and will therefore use the side doors more often, causing us to not have any record of them being in the building. • Night receptionists should not be held responsible for IDs.

COMMENTARY

SN section devoted to Iraq well-balanced

For once, The State News got it right. I must applaud all who contributed to the content printed in the "Faces & Places" section entitled "Windows into war" (SN 3/15). I think it is fair to say that we, the readers, finally got input from all sides of this issue with very little to no spin on the reporting.

COMMENTARY

Do you know about it?

Spreading awareness about events and circumstances around the world is the first step in eliciting change. And that's exactly what members of Spartans Taking Action Now: Darfur, or STAND, did on Monday.

COMMENTARY

Cutting tensions

It's been more than 50 years since the civil rights movement began, but it's clear discrimination still exists. Even at MSU. Racial and homophobic messages were written on dry-erase boards in north and south campus areas. In the Hubbard Hall cafeteria, a white student was overheard making racial comments to a group of black students. Members of the Department of Residence Life met with different residence halls last week in an effort to educate students about these incidents and about MSU's anti-harassment policy.

COMMENTARY

Saving it for later

All that planning and we'll have to keep waiting to try it out. MSU and East Lansing police were ready this year for a riot, disturbance or other shenanigans that could have taken place during the men's basketball season.

COMMENTARY

People should know issues behind tactics

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals: making you think. PETA obviously has achieved one of its goals, that is to encourage people to think and in turn express their opinions. Whether you agree with PETA or not, its shock tactics evoke people to either defend what they believe or open up to new avenues of thinking. Perhaps you weren't aware that by consuming the milk of another species, people inadvertently accept the following: Humans have evolved or were designed to never be weaned from a mother's milk or the milk of another species.

COMMENTARY

Gender identity not included in policies

This is in regard to the article "Race, gay issues focus of meetings" (SN 3/21). More students on campus might be familiar with the university's anti-discrimination policy, but the list of categories protected from harassment in the article ("age, color, gender, disability status, height, weight, marital status, national origin, political persuasion, race, religion, sexual orientation or veteran status") did not include gender identity. The MSU Board of Trustees voted in its Dec.

COMMENTARY

Lucky for students

Green beer was served as early as 7 a.m., and still there were fewer arrests this St. Patrick's Day than on an average football Saturday. And a low arrest record is something we should strive for again. Obviously MSU students like green year-round, but the Irish holiday gave Spartan fans another reason to tote green, from their clothing to their tongues.

COMMENTARY

Students praised for help in Big Easy

On behalf of all New Orleans area residents, I want to thank Sonia Khaleel, State News copy editor, Megan Sutton, my student, and the 21 other MSU students who participated in the Alternative Spring Break in New Orleans.

COMMENTARY

Voting in any election crucial; don't expect change by doing nothing

For a long time, I've aspired to be like my grandfather. He's a veteran of World War II, has a mean bowling average and almost never missed an election since he first started voting. He makes sure to get there every November, and for a long time volunteered at the polls. My grandfather of course, is a member of one of the largest voting demographic groups.

COMMENTARY

Film features strong point, performances

I am writing partially in response to Armon Mahajerin's letter, "'Crash' not great; doesn't stop racism" (SN 3/20). I agree with Stefanie Spiro's letter, "Brilliant films deserved recognition at Oscars" (SN 3/13), in that "Crash" was a well-written film that featured strong performances by a spectacular cast and delivered a powerful message.

COMMENTARY

Minimum wage hike helpful to economy

Both an editorial, "Long-awaited raise" (SN 3/16), and a letter, "New wage increase won't help economy" (SN 3/16), slam the proposed Michigan minimum wage hike. They said this might hurt those it is intended to help and might hurt our already fragile economy. As one who tried to live on minimum wage for a number of years after graduating from college, I heartily disagree. I dare to say that slave owners in the past said the same thing about the abolition of slavery, that the country would fall to pieces if the labor had to be paid. Sure, I could start my own business if I could pay employees 10 cents an hour because I can't afford more than that.

COMMENTARY

Take 5 to vote

ASMSU and RHA want you to vote in their elections this week. MSU's undergraduate student government and the Residence Halls Association are making it incredibly easy for students to vote for this year's student elections. They can vote either today or Wednesday. And it's online. ASMSU plans on having laptop computers stationed around campus so students can vote between classes for candidates to represent different colleges, halls and on a proposed $3 tax increase. Members of ASMSU say their tax increase, which would bring the ASMSU per-semester tax to $16.75, would help them continue and expand vital services. It's clear our student government is trying to make voting as easy for students as possible.

COMMENTARY

Bill might help more than writer believes

I would like to respond to the letter from Charles Szafir "New wage increase won't help economy" (SN 3/16). He says, "there are more efficient ways to do it (help poor people) (such as tax breaks for those in lower income brackets)." Tax breaks to low-income people will not do anything.